Painting Matters The art of decorative painting day-by-day

Some time back I wrote about painting on ostrich eggs. I haven’t painted another egg in a while but a couple of students had been asking me if I had any to sell. I didn’t – I only had one egg left and I had basecoated it….just waiting to be painted. I honestly haven’t found a [...]

Its the new year and I hope that many new painters join us in the world of decorative painting this year! May you have a truly wondrous painting journey wherever you are.. I saw yesterday that IKEA Kuwait was having one of its sales again! Ever since I started decorative painting, IKEA has been [.

Its always nice travelling during the festive season. One year we were in France on a road trip and we stopped at a Christmas market in Lille. It was very cold yet when we stumbled on the market, I didn’t mind taking my time walking around looking at the Christmassy wares on sale. One of the [...]

I was going through my photos the other day and came across this one taken after a decorative painting workshop held with 7 to 9-year-olds during a “Winter Camp” for girls in Kuwait. Every single one of them finished their project which was a plaque for their room. This was the first time I ever agr

One of the students at today’s roses class was my 12 year-old little Kuwaiti painter. Last week she painted her first project – this plaque of sunflowers with the words “Welcome to our Chalet”. I thought it was an amazing piece of work for a 12-year old. And it was her first ever attempt at [...]

While most people have just only upped and left on their summer vacations this year, I have been AND come back! Back to hot and dusty Kuwait and to my studio. Anyway, this post is not about painting while travelling – its about the art I deliberately try to see while travelling or sometimes, serend

I never knew but it seems that the 13th of May is Tulip Day! So I shall remember to wish everyone a Happy Tulip Day every 13th May from now Tulip motifs are fairly common in the world of decorative painting and you can find them in the traditional folk art of Hindeloopen, Bauernmalerei, [...]

Many many years ago when I first started decorative painting, all I wanted to do was perfect my comma strokes. I would even venture to say that I was “obsessive” about it. I must have painted hundreds and thousands of it on reams and reams of white and black art paper! I got the feeling [...]

Most decorative painting projects look amazing even on a plain background but sometimes its nice to do something to the background BEFORE painting on it. There are many alternatives to a plain background. You can create a faux finish such as a marbled background or a smoked background. You can even

As a teacher, I feel really happy when a student gets highly motivated to paint AND she paints! My Kuwaiti friend and student with whom I sat down and helped choose a colour scheme for her Hindeloopen project said she was going to do it when she went home, and she really did it. I felt privileged [.